


Breathing Out All the Troubles That Came Before

by sparklight



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Ancient Greece, Chases, Doggy Style, Fluff, Frottage, M/M, Olympics, Romance, hot-dogging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25365046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: It's several hundred years after the Trojan war, even more than that since Ganymede was taken to Olympos, and suddenly everything seems a lot easier. Ganymede also has a lot more interest to spare for how life actually does go on. So what about a visit to Athens? Zeus is always indulgent, though he might have been more interested to stay on Olympos at first. And, too, this is a year of the Olympic games, as well.Running can be an expression of joy and life, after all, and not just an attempt at getting away (from an eagle, from your emotions, from terrible reality). And sometimes you even want to be caught, but that comes later.
Relationships: Ganymede/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	1. A Date with the King of the Gods

Opening his eyes, Ganymede took a deep breath and let it out slowly. An equally lazy blink cleared his sleep-heavy eyes and let him focus as he stared up at the ceiling in Zeus' bedroom. The decoration had changed from years before; it now portrayed a prancing bull trailing flower garlands behind it from the heavy garland around its neck and the flower crown on its head and had an eagle flying escort above it.

"What year is it?"

He felt... light. There was no other way to describe it, and there was no real, exact reason for it, for nothing had been happening lately, bad or good. He just felt _light_ , his chest and limbs heavy with nothing but relaxed ease, his fingers and toes right where they should be. He wriggled them just to feel the air shift around them in the light breeze coming from the open door that led to the balcony, feel his muscles shift and work.

"Good morning, Ganymede," Zeus said, and he could hear the smirk in his voice. It was a warm sort of amusement, however, and Ganymede smiled, twisted around and rolled over onto his stomach as he propped his chin up in his palms.

"Well? What year _is it_?" he prodded, kicking a foot up behind him and then swinging both his legs in the air before letting them thump down onto the mattress again. Outside, the sky was covered in small, puffy clouds which raced by, and the breeze coming in smelled summer-sweet. They'd been to this year's Velchania a couple months ago, his birthday had been... a month? little over that, probably, and Ganymede had enjoyed both the attention and the gifts - even more so since one of Zeus' gifts had been inviting Xanthos and Simoeis. It'd been a while since he'd had the chance to see them, mostly because Ganymede could still not bring himself to go to Troy. But that wasn't important, right now. Right now he was relaxed and happy, and wanted this question answered, so he looked to Zeus, thoughtfully attentive. Zeus arched an eyebrow and drummed his fingers against a thigh. He was sprawled out on his couch with a scroll in his lap, and was positioned in such a way Ganymede was rather sure meant he'd been watching Ganymede sleep instead of reading.

"It's been almost seven hundred years since I brought you to Olympos. How so?"

Frown deepening, Ganymede thought that number over, making a few calculations in his head and thinking back. Thought further and finally a little noise of incredulous exasperation escaped him. Zeus rolled up the scroll and laid it on the table, shifting to sit more upright and flapped a hand in demand for further explanation.

"Why was everything happening so much back then?" Ganymede exclaimed, kicking the mattress in emphasis and making the blanket billow up above him, fluttering back down in a crumpled pile which now covered him only partially. It left his back and half his ass bare, one leg fully covered with the other mostly bare as if he'd planned it that way, and his foot feeling the breeze still wafting in from the open door. He wriggled his toes and again it just felt... light. Easy.

Zeus chortled, amused. But by the look he threw Ganymede he was further also thoughtful as he stood up and wandered over to the bed. He sat down on the edge, a hand sliding down Ganymede's sleekly muscled, bare back. "There was certainly a lot happening back then."

Zeus was quiet for a few moments, and Ganymede settled now that he knew there would be, if not a precise answer, then at least a thoughtful reply. He shifted his leg back and forth, brushing past Zeus' elbow several times, until he paused there and awkwardly caressed said elbow and lower half of broad, muscled arm with his toes. Zeus, after a couple passes, finally jerked his arm back to push him away.

"Behave, Ganymede." There was a laugh in his voice despite the reprimand, and Ganymede smiled at the fresco across the room, entirely unrepentant. He did subside, though, dropping his foot back to the mattress. "As for _why_ that was, is harder to tell. I would suppose we were all settling in, testing limits, both our own and each others. And then also Gaia, too, stirring the pot."

There was a shrug which Ganymede more felt in the shifting weight of the hand now at the small of his back than saw it, and Ganymede snorted, incredulous once more. But Zeus seemed to be serious.

"What, playing like children?" It was ridiculous; these were gods they were talking about, into which infinity was woven from their conception. Zeus, though, laughed as he rubbed the deeper dip of the spine in the small of Ganymede’s back.

"Something similar to it. By the point I took you, we had been around for no more than a couple hundred years."

Again, it was in some ways entirely incredible, impossible, but at the same time, as he thought about it, it made sense. All the way the gods were, as individuals, was still undeniably there, and it wasn't like nothing at all had been happening since the Trojan War ended, for it certainly had. 

Much time had been devoted to getting the people in the sphere back on track after Zeus had managed to stabilize the free-fall of civilization, though not so much time there hadn't been pettiness, arguments, conversations and love and friendships, too. It was just... different. Spread out. Not the same sort of frenzied activity. There had been space and time to breathe, which was ridiculous to think about when they were talking of hundreds of years, and yet that was true. Ganymede supposed he was getting used to the idea of a possible eternity, of the rhythm of immortality, even if he was, in some ways, still quintessentially human. He didn't like to think of the parts of the Trojan War that hadn't been strict necessity as prey to the same "youthful" vagaries, but with Zeus laying it out so starkly, it was undeniable. He swallowed heavily and pushed the thoughts about that away. The late mid-morning was too pleasant, his mood too light, to darken it with something he still hadn't really dealt with. There were better things to think about.

"And yet a lot of you were supposed to be adults, and pretending to---! Ganymede choked, jumping as Zeus smacked his ass with ringing force but a lot less strength. " _Zeus_!"

Three more smacks followed in firm succession, and Ganymede choked on his breath again, arching up a little between each strike, then exhaled it sharply when Zeus' large hand came down a fourth time, softly now, spreading out in a lazy, gently stroking caress. Groping one pertly rounded buttock, certainly.

"Didn't I tell you to behave?" Zeus inquired, his voice no more than a deep rumble, though with laughter still in the back of it. "You know how essences work, my prince."

Huffing, Ganymede transferred his weight and chin to only one hand and flapped the other dismissively in the air over his shoulder. "Yes, my lord."

Zeus alternating between lazily caressing and more intently groping his ass was getting distracting, especially when he ran his thumb along the bottom creases, teasing in towards the cleft. It was a nice idea, definitely, it was just... Ganymede took another deep, freeing breath, still not quite over the sense of ease, and frowned as he stared at the fresco across the room.

"Can we go out?"

"What?" Zeus sounded startled, and his hand had, thankfully for Ganymede's concentration and the idea that was slowly percolating, stopped. It was curved like a warm hood over the firm swell of one buttock, threatening distraction but allowing him to think.

"Go out. Down. I'd like to see what things look like, at _street level_ , not just from up here and looking down. I know we were at the Velchania like usual, but that’s not the same," Ganymede said slowly, puzzling it out as he spoke and then nodded firmly at the end. Yes, that's what he wanted now. He had no desire to go anywhere near the former Luwian lands and even less so Troy itself. Not yet, and Ganymede didn't know when he might wish to do so, but this lightness brought a sense of curiosity back. Humans were still living their lives, and he wanted to be surrounded by that, now, at least for just a day.

There was a pause, and Ganymede could imagine several different expressions on Zeus' face to go with it, but he didn't look over his shoulder to check. Zeus smartly clapped him on the ass again after a long moment of silence, just enough to set the flesh of it rippling and stood up, offering his hand in Ganymede's line of sight.

"I don't see why not. I have some ideas and we can end it by going to Olympia."

"You might want to wear something more than just the himation," Ganymede pointed out as he took the offered hand and got pulled to his feet, the rest of the sheet falling away and Zeus snorted, but there was a smile on his face. His eyes were sparkling, and Ganymede felt all the more pleased at having come up with this idea. But why Olympia... Oh, right. The Olympic games were happening this year. _Right now_ , in fact. Zeus had gone yesterday, though invisible, to attend the huge sacrifice, and he knew Hermes had been there then, too, and both Apollo and Ares were going today, to surreptitiously participate.

"Perhaps." Zeus paused, pursing his lips as he glanced down at Ganymede. "How is your current language knowledge?"

"Oh," Ganymede huffed, definitely completely having forgotten about that being a potential issue! Luckily, though, it was one already dealt with. With a smile, he dismissed it and gave Zeus' hand a squeeze. "Athena's been helping me keep up, so that won't be a problem."

"Your skill with and love for languages are a delight," Zeus said with a slow smile, and Ganymede ducked his head, pleasure warming his chest from the praise.

Ganymede went and picked up one of his relatively new chlamydes to throw over his chiton. Zeus was still most often wearing tunics, but he was taking a growing liking for himation - and wearing himation alone - and Ganymede both cursed and blessed it. It mostly hid Zeus' long, strong legs, his broad, muscular thighs completely and the shapely calves too unless he was walking, but it left his chest on display due to how low he wrapped the soft, heavy drape of fabric. At least Ganymede wasn't alone in staring, sometimes, though Hera was a lot better at hiding it. Either way, for this trip Zeus did wear a chiton as well as the himation, one so blinding white the fineness of it was undisputed regardless of how simple it seemed, and it made the purple of the himation all the more richly dark.

"I'm going to pick you up and go back to the bedroom if you continue like that, beloved," Zeus said, his smile obvious even if his broad back was turned, with the drape of the chiton only enhancing the sleek expanse of it.

"No, you're not," Ganymede said severely, but decisively turned around while the pinned the chlamys into place, soft brown teasingly hiding the saffron of the chiton - probably shorter than it would normally be, since they were supposed to reach the knees, he was rather sure. Ganymede’s did not, but he liked it this way. He had very nice legs, and he could feel Zeus' stare on him, intensifying as the heavy fall of the chlamys hid the shapely stretch of his lower thighs, and then all the way down to the top of his calves. Served him right, then, when he'd just called him out for staring!

"Here." Zeus came up behind him, stopping Ganymede from turning around as he tied a headband around his head, though the ends, when they fell against his hair, were heavier than they would normally be. Reaching up, Ganymede fumbled for one of the dangling ends and pulled it forward, rolling his eyes but at the same time smiling at the sight of an eagle made in gold in full flight, wings stretched, dangled from it. The other end of the headband probably had a matching eagle.

"Okay," he said, trying and failing to suppress his amusement as he turned around, "any other way you'd like to stake your claim, love?"

Smile matching his sparkling green eyes, Ganymede tipped his head into the palm that came up to cup his face, one large thumb stroking his cheek while the other long, clever fingers burrowed into his curls and disappeared there like an anchor into the deepest sea, searching for bottom to hold fast to.

"Keeping you here entirely, so no one who doesn't already know to keep their hands off gets a chance to make that mistake. You have, however, charmed me to this idea." Zeus shook his head and swooped down. Ganymede rose up to meet him like a flower eager for sunlight, his hand small against Zeus' broad lower arm and clutching it for support as he got up on tiptoe, smiling into the kiss. Yeah, as much as the idea of Zeus picking him up and pointedly walking back to the bedroom and probably locking the door for good measure was a delightful one that was almost as distracting as Zeus' hand on his ass had been earlier, it wasn't what he wanted right now. With Ganymede able to count on one hand the things he'd wanted that Zeus had _not_ given him, compared to all the things he had, it was doubtful Zeus would go through with his threat. Besides, with Zeus clearly interested in this outing as well, that guaranteed it would happen.

"You can do that later, my lord," Ganymede whispered it against Zeus' lips, smiling still, "in fact, I'd like that very much."

Warm gray eyes narrowed and Ganymede shivered from the heated weight of the look. Zeus only smiled toothily in the end and straightened up, leading them both out to the chariot. It was ready and waiting for them, and Ganymede took the long way up onto it by curving around in front of the horses so he could give each of their velvet-soft noses a pet. Zeus shook his head when he came up beside him but the sparkle in his eyes was indulgent, though he didn't, to Ganymede's disappointment, hand the reins over. No matter. It left him free to spend the flight, as relatively short as it was, leaning over the rim of the chariot and watching the landscape rush by below, partly covered by clouds. The ocean on his left was whipped by long, lazy foam heads of white and the shore gleaming pale against the greenery inland.

Soon they bent away from the coast, the view turning into a tapestry of valleys and mountains. They cut over the bay past Iolkos, the flickering flash of land-and-water speeding them past Boeotia and then, finally, into Attica. The Acropolis was the first obvious thing of Athens to be seen from a distance and this high up, and Zeus started to lower them in wide, lazy circles. The approach gave a splendid view of the city as it grew in size, the wide open spot of the temenos of Olympian Zeus, the sanctuaries and altars up on the Acropolis itself, along with the huge, full bough of the olive tree. And people, though compared to the spread Ganymede might have expected, there was a whole bunch of them blocking the propylon and seemingly not moving at all, and then another large group on the other side of the gate, as well as milling around Athena’s sanctuary.

"It looks surprisingly busy, up there. Are they doing something in connection to the Olympic games?" Ganymede frowned, leaning himself even further over the edge of the chariot and huffed quietly as he was hauled back upright before Zeus steered away from the flat top of the Acropolis, clearly deciding to use another landing spot.

"Perhaps. Inconvenient, but hardly insurmountable. We're going to the agora first anyway."

Ganymede let out a wordless noise of agreement even as he twisted around to look at the diminishing Acropolis and the large group that had been choking up the fortified road up to the top of the cliff, unable to squash his curiosity. There were no festivals right now in Athens, was there? He couldn't remember any, but admittedly he did not pay such close attention to any of the poleis' religious calendars. He had little reason to, and simply went along if Zeus or one of his friends - a couple times Apollo as well - took him with them. Turning around entirely as they landed on the near edge of the cemetery in the Kerameikos, he hopped off before the chariot had entirely been brought to a stand-still and breathed in.

Immediately sneezed and coughed, his body startled at the rich, heavy smells of human life and work around him. Zeus, entirely unrepentantly, laughed loud enough to ring around them as he unyoked the horses with a gesture and hid them and the chariot in a shimmering illusion of warm, shifting air. As he stepped away from the now-hidden chariot, he shrank and compacted in a twist of shimmering air as well, so that between one step and the next he was at a more human height. Tall still, most certainly, and taller than Ganymede was who was now, he’d noticed, just barely average height. It was annoying, and he didn’t understand why, but in the end it didn’t matter; more important was that Zeus was no longer so tall as to reveal what he was with no more than a quick glance falling on him. Next the sense of divinity was tucked away, so tightly and neatly only touching and close attention would have revealed what Zeus was. Well, aside from the perfect slope of his nose, the flawless cut of his cheekbones and clear light in his eyes, as well as the shining, effortlessly artistic half-wave of his hair and the neat curls of his beard. But those things, as stunning as they still made him, would be more easily overlooked, swept away as an exemplarily handsome man, and not that of a deity.

"It's been a while, okay!" Ganymede protested, then smiled too, giving in to the warmth of Zeus' amusement. "And I've mostly been to festivals around temene for a good while." Not all of those were in the middle of a settlement, after all.

"It's not so surprising," Zeus allowed with an amused little smirk, reaching out to brush the curls off Ganymede's shoulder even when they just fell back again. "But your body reacts to the reminder in entirely human ways, despite that you forget, practically being one of us."

He leaned down, dropping a lazy, warm slide of lips over Ganymede's cheekbone and up to his temple before he straightened up again and turned Ganymede towards the road, setting them off. In the end, landing out here didn't really give them much of a longer stretch to walk to the agora than if they'd landed up on the Acropolis. They were only missing the chance to pass by the sanctuaries up there on their way down, which was still a pity. A pity easily forgotten the deeper they went into the city, people soon filling the street around them and the smells no longer tickling Ganymede's nose. They were normal smells, after all, and normal noises went along with them, soaking the air around them as they walked.

The agora was a wide open space, two stoas right at the edge of it, low-ceilinged and columns at the open front of them on each side as they walked down the road. Here the amount of people grew into a throng, even though there was more than enough space to spread out. Curious, even if he'd intended to let the lure of the merchants' stalls drag him onwards, Ganymede looked around, then up to Zeus with an arched eyebrow.

"There's a lot of soldiers here, and they don't look like they're training."

Zeus nodded, but he seemed not much more enlightened by this than when they'd spotted the busy Acropolis from the air. "May be something, but I've certainly not noticed any stirrings of war... and both the Athenians and Ares should know better during the Olympic Games, anyway."

They all should, indeed. Ganymede was honestly rather impressed that the truce actually was mostly honoured as the games on Olympia were taken very seriously indeed. Shrugging, Ganymede glanced up at Zeus, who dipped his head and gestured him on with a very obvious edge of amused indulgence. Ganymede didn't care and smiled brightly, running off. He knew Zeus would catch up when he wished, or, more probably, would keep pace with him. More than that, his presence was sure to keep the weight of eyes around Ganymede to only precisely that; looks. It was surprisingly easy to forget, if only because he was surrounded by breathlessly beautiful people all the time and had been for... a very, very long time. On top of that, basically everyone knew to keep their hands and the more obvious looks to themselves. Here, though, not so much.

What was more unexpected, after remembering that he _was_ used to people staring at him and not because of his status, was that the number of girls looking at him was less than expected, completely aside from the fact that the number of women in the agora was much smaller than Ganymede would have expected. The Achaeans... Hellenes, now, had begun to separate their women sometime after the earlier collapse, which did explain the lack of women present, but he did not usually have so many men more or less openly staring at him.

Unless they were gods, that was.

It was a curiosity, but one that, if he even cared to, could be examined later. At the moment he was more interested in the array of wares available from the merchants. Not that he actually was much interested in shopping and even less in need of anything on sale here, no, it was more a question of enjoying things made entirely by human hands. Like the pottery, the rich brownish orange shiny against the black, dull or shiny painted figures decorating them. The merchant was busy, and Ganymede lightly gestured him towards his other customers while he eyed the various cups, bowls and oinochoes available, half listening to the men and a couple older women talking. None of it seemed to explain the choke-point up at the acropolis, so he might have to ask, instead of just listening.

Later, when, or if, he bought something. And to do that, he needed to pay attention to the painted decorations, because they were definitely the greatest reason for buying anything--- Ganymede stared at the kylix he'd just picked up, a noise caught in his throat.

"What?" Zeus was, of course, right behind him, his arm lightly brushing his shoulder. Ganymede rolled his eyes, but he was having trouble suppressing his mirth and snorted.

"Look at this instead," he said, biting his lip as he turned and held the kylix out, presenting the painting of a youth riding a positively giant rooster that covered the bottom of the cup to Zeus. Biting his lip did not suppress his smile in the least, and at least Zeus, as he looked down, stopped looking terribly smug but dangerous at the same time. Why, was clear as Ganymede glanced around; there was a slight break in the crowds around them, and people even seemed more willing to pass them by closer to Zeus than to Ganymede. But, no matter. This was more important! Zeus' gray eyes narrowed, an eyebrow arching up on his forehead, and then he snorted.

"You are such a _child_ , Ganymede."

Ganymede could see the light in Zeus' eyes, though, and the comment set him off, slumping forward to thump his forehead against Zeus' chest as he laughed, shoulders shaking. "You've only got yourself to blame!"

Besides, it was still funny, and the fact that Zeus' laughter was locked into his chest like a distant rumbling vibration that could only be picked up when Ganymede was literally close enough to hear the pulse of power and flow of ichor didn't make it any less true.

"Clearly," he said, trying for dignity as he straightened up but only managing breathy amusement, laughter still setting his shoulders to trembling, "I am not the only one who finds it amusing or meaningful, considering where it's painted!"

"Humans can be surprisingly juvenile to an old age," Zeus allowed, but he was smiling as he took the kylix and put it back, ignoring Ganymede's wordless protest. He was not letting go of that so easily! But, he didn't need to be so obvious about buying it, or doing so immediately, as there was a couple more of the various painted decorations that'd caught his interest.

"Of course." Bland agreement with Ganymede ignoring Zeus' gaze on him, his eyes no doubt suspiciously narrowed, but he didn't ask, and Ganymede did not say anything more. 

Not about that, anyway, as he perused the aryballoi, oinochoes and cups, pursing his lips in thought at the theme common among some of them. The ones drawing on legends were obvious; there was a rather stunning krater with the huge, tusked and winged Gorgons chasing a fleeing Perseus, another with Heracles driving Cerberus in front of him, for example, but some of the others were harder to make sense of. The only thing that was entirely obvious was "man chasing woman", but a number of them were handily marked with names near the figures in question, so that finally gave him some context. Peleus chasing Thetis on one side of an oinochoe and struggling with her changing shapes on the other, a krater with Zeus pursuing Aegina, as well as another oinochoe of Poseidon chasing after Amphitrite, yet another with Eos pursuing Cephalos. There was also a kylix with what Ganymede was rather sure was supposed to be Hermes pursuing some unknown and unnamed woman and then another oinochoe behind a row of delicate little aryballoi painted with soldiers on horses had---

"Piḫaššaššiš," Ganymede said, lips pressed together and feeling... he wasn't sure. Not embarrassed, really, just consternated, perhaps. Looking up at Zeus, he snatched up the oinochoe and held it out. "What is this?"

Zeus’ inquiring arch of his eyebrows lowered as he saw the painted scene, of a tall, bearded man chasing a naked youth clutching a rooster in one hand and a hoop and stick in the other. If there'd been any doubt of what, and who, the scene was supposed to portray, the names helpfully cleared it up. Instead he smirked and leaned down, a large hand - though not as large as usual - landing on Ganymede's shoulder, and though he couldn't see it now with Zeus in the way and his hand behind the jug, the other was no doubt tracing the painted figures.

"I told you, your story would not be forgotten." Breath washed over Ganymede's ear and he shivered, for Zeus' voice was as deathly serious as it was teasing. Collecting himself, he huffed softly.

"Well, I don't think it's being very _accurate_ , now is it?"

"Would it please you to know there are many other things, both practical and beautiful, that bear the image of the eagle carrying its handsome, helpless prey off?" Zeus was smirking again, Ganymede could feel it against the shell of his ear, and he wasn't sure this was a conversation he should've started in public. Not with the way Zeus was sounding and had leaned down to practically loom, which he was still well capable of, even when shorter. He ignored the pleased tremble of his thighs and shook his head.

"That's at least closer to what happened," he said wryly, though he met Zeus' eyes, the gray of them seeming almost to glow in the shadow gathered between them, and smiled just a little, lowered his lashes and pretended like he couldn't feel the way Zeus' hand tightened on his shoulder. "I'm not sure it would have been as impressive, anyway, if you'd chased me in the guise of a man, my lord."

Ganymede smiled brilliantly while he ignored the tiniest choke from Zeus as well as the people turning away from them, pretending they hadn’t been paying attention to the two of them. Turning around and putting the oinochoe back, he shifted over a couple steps and picked up the kylix he'd been laughing over earlier.

"This one, please," Ganymede said, meeting the merchant's amused grin with a smile, then pursed his lips thoughtfully. Might as well ask, right? "Do you know what's with all the soldiers around here, because I thought they gathered in the agora to train, but they seem rather too distracted for that? As well as what’s going on with the group cutting off access to the Acropolis?"

"Oh, _that_." The merchant, a narrow, short man with a thick, but equally short, and curly beard, scoffed, his genial expression immediately darkening. "Cylon tried to establish himself as tyrant. Brought in _foreign soldiers_ to do so! Did he truly think we'd overlook that, or be so distracted by the games?"

The man huffed, shaking his head as he took the coins Ganymede handed over, dark eyes narrowed and his lips disappearing in among the heavy curls of his beard. "He might have had better luck if he'd tried during the Panathenic games, or even the Diasia! Foreign soldiers, pah! Did he really think Zeus Hypatos would grant him sovereignty of Athens that way?"

Ganymede, eyebrows arched, nodded very seriously while he murmured something by way of agreement to cover Zeus' amused huff behind him. Taking the kylix, he followed Zeus away from the merchant and was not surprised when he spotted the oinochoe propped against Zeus' hip, but he said nothing about that.

"What do you think?"

"Inconveniencing us," Zeus said with a shake of his head, but he didn't sound particularly annoyed, more thoughtful, "since it'd take more work than it's worth to go up to the Acropolis at the moment. We'd stand out, since the only people up there right now are probably Cylon and his supporters, plus the soldiers he apparently were given."

Rather, at least Ganymede would stand out. Zeus would be able to disguise himself, but Ganymede couldn't look like anything other than what he was, and Cylon's supporters ought to know who they all were and thus who wouldn't belong. That wasn't exactly, or really at all, what Ganymede had meant, however, and he shook his head, about to reiterate his point when Zeus' gaze flicked down to him and he smiled wryly. 

"I'm sure this Cylon went to Delphi before taking an action such as this, so depending on what the Pythia said, he probably misunderstood _when_ it was most propitious to attempt taking power. The soldiers are probably help from outside, not an intended insult to the Athenians though they certainly took it that way, by someone who has both the means and a motive to wish Cylon as Athens' tyrant. It's merely practical to have some military force to back yourself up after all. Though he might have wanted to wait with calling them in until after he'd gotten support among the general populace, to be sure he could overthrow the Archons without the inhabitants of Athens turning against him."

Zeus chuckled, though the look he threw down the street that crossed through the agora and went towards the Acropolis was thoughtful. Ganymede doubted Cylon would find his fortunes turned particularly drastically in the coming days, but depending on the circumstances he might find the whole thing slightly less of a disaster than it currently clearly was, besieged up on the Acropolis as the man and his supporters were.

"Never mind that, now." Zeus smiled down at Ganymede and dropped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. "Let's have a proper look around before we continue to Olympia."

They took their time wandering about the agora, and Ganymede quickly found himself with a thick, honey-moist and honey-tasting slice of cake in his free hand while Zeus quietly explained the purpose of any of the official buildings he wasn't immediately familiar with, which did a lot more to make connections to the lessons of the governance of the poleis he'd been getting more real and solid than merely the theory of it. They paused in front of the Olympian temenos, the stones of its peribolos nearly humming softly under touch. Mortal humans might not feel any difference, but this place, like any proper temenos, still had power. Not that there was anything in particular to see to reveal that or even instil much of a sense of awe, for the temenos didn't even contain an altar within its peribolos yet. The inside wall of the boundary did however have many small niches where votive gifts had been left, and the outside of it was clad with stones covered in beautiful reliefs, and Ganymede took a moment to peer at them, naming the events and the deities portrayed for their amusement as well as a correction once or twice.

Cycling past the shops again, Ganymede got one more thing, and though he certainly had much nicer and more splendid jewellery than the simple glass pendant, it was pretty. Besides, the idea that it was to protect against ill intent was pleasant, though he of course didn't have much need of such protection.

"What is that for?" Zeus arched an eyebrow as Ganymede hung the charm about his neck and laughed, shaking his head.

"I just like it." Really did not have much need of the intended protection, since the one person who certainly had spent a lot of energy through the years to glare at him didn't do so with much fury, now. Hera might still be displeased and hurt, sometimes, that he was still here, right where he was with Zeus and in his heart, if not his official position, but the intensity of the emotions had long since softened. He might have had much more need of a charm like this several hundred years ago, but then, what charm would be able to protect against a _deity_ 's angry eye and ill intent? It was ridiculous. Ganymede still liked the idea of it. Zeus huffed and rolled his eyes, but the fingers catching through the curls around his shoulder were soft.

Leaving the agora, they took a long, half-circle path through the city to get back to the Kerameikos, wandering narrow streets and past homes, regular people living their lives with various amount of luck and wealth. It was ridiculously reassuring, in a way. There was life, here, and Ganymede was also vaguely aware that there was a settlement still around where Troy had been, called just the same name, but that... just wasn't the same. He was rather sure the people who lived there now were purely Hellenes, and he tried his best to ignore the distant, sullen indignation about that. It didn't matter. Troy had had Achaeans among the Luwian population, too. And even if one disregarded Troy, deeper into Asia Minor there were no longer full traces of his people; these things just happened. Besides, Rome was growing, and while the connection to Aeneas and the other escaping Trojans who had survived the fall of Troy and gone with him was rather tenuous at this point, he appreciated it still.

As they left Athens, Ganymede threw another look behind them down at the city and the flat top of the Acropolis rising above the rest, frowning. "Are you going to do something about that?"

"Perhaps. He had enough of a plan that it could well have worked, as well as backup. Few get that far. And they _have_ barricaded themselves up on the Acropolis, presumably in one of the temples. If nothing else they're suppliants."

Cylon now had divine attention, though perhaps a little late. Shaking his head at the irony, Ganymede leaned over the rim of the chariot to watch the rush of land and water below. They followed the coast until they passed over Corinth, then cut straight across Peloponnesos. They landed at Olympia barely twenty minutes later, and all the distance they'd covered seemed like it was nothing when Ganymede well knew it was far enough that they'd have been nowhere near Olympia if they'd travelled with mortal means. But as they were not, they could enjoy cutting across the whole of Hellas in barely any time at all. In fact, it'd take a bare blink of the actual time to cross the whole ocean from the coast of Asia Minor to the pillars of Herakles. He hadn't thought of it much, but maybe there was reason to do something with that, sometime? They'd visited Okeanos down in Ethiopia sometimes, but there was further one could go. The world was huge, wasn't it?

The realization was tantalizing, but had to be shelved at the moment as they landed in a shielded spot and Zeus once again had the horses unyoked and both them and the chariot hidden. Walking into the Altis past the boundary surrounding it, Ganymede turned towards where he knew the altar was, and where most of the offerings would be placed, but Zeus gently gripped him by the shoulders and steered him through the crowds towards where the races were held.

"Looks like we're just on time."

"On time?" Eyebrows arching up, Ganymede glanced over his shoulder up at Zeus, not afraid to look away from where he was walking. Zeus would keep him going where they were going without walking into anyone, as well as on his feet if he should stumble. "In time for what?"

"The stadion, of course." Zeus smiled down at him, brilliant and pleased as anything, though that wasn't much of an explanation. Ganymede frowned, shaking his head and looking forward again, not that it made much difference for his ability to walk.

"Are you participating?"

Zeus usually didn't, compared to Herakles, Hermes, Apollo and Ares, but maybe, with an interested audience, he would make an exception? Though, it wasn't like he'd never attended the games with Hera, and she was much pleased at any display of such skill from her husband, so that couldn't be it.

"No. But you should."

This time, Ganymede almost tripped over his feet despite looking where he was going, and Zeus brought them to a stop as Ganymede turned to look up at him again, thoroughly confused and surprised both. If Zeus was more forthcoming, this dance around would not be necessary, but he always seemed to find some enjoyment in laying things out slowly - and even more enjoyment whenever Ganymede understood whatever he was aiming for before he got there. This time wasn't one of them.

"I'm not old enough," Ganymede pointed out, consternation colouring his voice as much as his face, drawing it together into a scrunch, "and no one's going to believe otherwise."

His height wasn't really a problem, but the Hellenes hadn't gotten any less fond of beards to mark adulthood, and even those who had trouble growing beards early did their best to encourage what little growth there was. Besides, he did look a fair bit too youthful either way. Zeus laughed quietly, though it still rumbled loud in the air around them.

"No, no one would. Not for the usual stadion anyway, but they're holding a race for boys for the first time this year," he said, leaning down a little over Ganymede and taking his chin, tipping his face up, "you can't tell me you aren't tempted."

"Well--- I, it wouldn't be fair, would it?" Flushing, he shook his head as much as he was allowed with the grip on his chin. He could indeed not say he wasn't tempted, but even completely disregarding the potential age-bracket and what ages was allowed within it, Ganymede was immortal. Such a thing did come with some perks, if not to the same degree as if he'd been born with a divine parent or been a god himself.

"And you would claim such to my sons, when they participate?" Zeus' amusement was clear, and Ganymede, who'd snapped straight-backed at the sly comment, grimaced and shook his head silently. No, he wouldn't. It just wasn't right to put himself in the same category as Zeus' sons! "If it worries you so, merely make sure you come in second, Ganymede. Then whoever wins will still have done so under their own merit and skill, but you won't have insulted yourself."

"... You're making me wish I was here yesterday, for the horse racing events." He shook his head, biting his lip. "You're sure it would be all right, piḫaššaššiš?"

Zeus leaned down the rest of the way, less needed in his pretence of humanity than otherwise, and leaned their foreheads together. It was such a simple gesture, and still Ganymede flushed and glanced around sharply, but no one seemed to make much comment of it. The few glances past the politely turned backs seemed to mostly imply jealousy, which, like the greater attention in Athens, was rather strange. Ganymede let himself relax into the warm weight pressing down on him, both from the actual spot where their foreheads were pressed together as well as the subtle pressure of Zeus' divinity, much fainter than usual when he did this, thanks to the disguise. Finally, Zeus snorted.

"The riding race, in that case. You've seen what the chariot one can be like. But yes, I believe it will be fine, beloved. More than fine."

Laughing, Ganymede pushed himself away from Zeus. He wasn’t in the least surprised Zeus would lay hypothetical restrictions on which of the horse racing competitions he'd allow Ganymede to participate in, if he got it in mind to actually do it. He _had_ seen what could happen, admittedly, and though he wanted to dismiss it since it wasn’t as much of a danger whenever he and his friends raced for sport, he knew it would not be the same with mortals at the reins, mortal horses, mortally built chariots. So, yes, perhaps the riding race, then. But that was over for this year, and time travel wasn't something that existed, so what there was to focus on was the stadion at hand.

"... Okay." He said it with some hesitation, but Ganymede could not at all hide the excitement behind that single word, or the energy bubbling up inside, the way he looked up and then towards where the other handful of youths were clearly just about ready.

"Go and join them, then. No one will question you," Zeus said with his pleasure practically glowing about him, and Ganymede ducked his head away from it, but was smiling anyway and did as bid. 

He could not deny it was an exciting prospect, and even less deny that he hadn't thought about it before, as little as he'd made an effort to truly keep track of when the games were happening since they began. The fact that he was obviously too young for most of the events had stopped any serious consideration up until now - as well as, of course, that nagging sense of _fairness_. But second place he did not mind constraining himself to. Besides, maybe his immortally enhanced stamina would not matter for a race the length of a stadion, for it really wasn't long enough of a stretch to truly tire any but the youngest participants. Aside from the stamina he wasn't, after all, faster or stronger than a regular mortal human, though if he'd been born the child of a god he might have become so, upon becoming immortal.

Walking over to the youths gathered by the starting lines scratched into the sand, no one paid any attention to Ganymede - or rather, they certainly were paying attention, but not because he wasn't supposed to be there and they weren't expecting any more contestants. 

They would think he was just a little late, and would probably forget he'd participated as soon as the winner was crowned. That was fine. No, what they were paying attention for was for the exact same reason most had paid attention in Athens, too, though with more reason to do so when he stopped, took off the chlamys, undid the belt and took out the fibulae, and then took off the chiton as well as the perizoma. He didn't stand out in such wise; they were all naked, of course, aside from their foreskins, and Ganymede could admit he did not understand that thought process in the least, for how did that single thing make them _not entirely_ nude? So, yes, technically he didn't stand out, but Ganymede was well aware what the difference between himself and the rest of these boys were. The back of his neck prickled and he could taste static in the air, but Ganymede ignored that with a little grin and an eyeroll - Zeus shouldn't have told him to participate or help him do so if he didn't want people staring - and lined up with the other six boys. 

Probably mostly local all of them, considering they wouldn't have the means to travel like the older athletes, and parents would be unwilling to let them go very far. Especially the two youngest; a glance convinced Ganymede they couldn't be much past twelve. It didn't seem very fair, considering the others, even excluding Ganymede, all appeared to be older than fifteen, but hopefully they wouldn't be too upset at the end of the race. On the other hand, glancing down at them and their shining, determined faces, Ganymede could imagine he wouldn't want to be told not to participate just because he was too young compared to the others, and he wouldn't have wanted anyone to go any slower for him either. Smiling at a very relevant memory as he shifted his shoulders and took a breath, he put the question of the youngest boys' participation aside. They were where they wanted to be, and he was too.

The blast of the trumpet startled all seven of them into motion like birds fleeing the call warning of a predator too close for comfort, scattering toward the protection of low-hanging branches of nearby trees, or up into the wide blue sky. The rush of air was a hot burn down into his lungs with every breath, then exploding out to slap him in the face with the wind tugging his hair, sliding around his limbs. Muscles were stretched to the fullest extent for the joy of moving and in the singular pursuit of speed, the ground beaten hard and as flat as it could under his feet.

There were two youths on either side of him, grim determination making them all nearly fly over the ground, and any lingering concerns Ganymede had had about this fell away. He was not going to win this without having to fight for it - if the race had been longer, it would absolutely had been an unfair win for him, but for this, as one of the boys fell one, two steps behind, then out of Ganymede's peripheral vision entirely, it didn't matter.

He almost forgot himself in the exhilaration, but as the crowd standing at the other end of the improvised track grew closer, Ganymede remembered he shouldn't win.

He could certainly do it, and would have done it fairly, too, but he was not a regular contestant and only looked like himself. It would be a fair bit more hassle if he really pushed himself to get past the other boy, long-legged and fifteen-sixteen, paler brown hair nearly like gold in the summer sun. So he didn't. There was just about half a step between them anyway, and Ganymede only cared for the pounding in his ears and the elated lightness buoying him as he came to a stop, laughing - and looked straight up into Zeus' smiling face, knowing he would be there.

"That was---!"

"Very well done, Ganymede." Zeus dropped an oak leaf wreath on his head, similar but ultimately different from the olive wreath now crowning the other boy, and Ganymede would not have wanted it otherwise. "You are poetry in motion and the reason running was made for. You keep yourself in exemplary shape."

Flushing, Ganymede's smile widened for the praise. Not that Zeus hadn't seen him run - or train, for that matter - before, but it seemed a little different, coming after an actual race instead of something done for pleasure or exercise.

"Anything else would be insulting the gifts I've been given, wouldn't it?" he asked, shaking his head. Zeus chuckled, dropping a heavy arm around his shoulders and walking him back to where his clothes were, so he could redress before steering him past the crowd to the edge of the temenos. They walked along the inside edge of the peribolos, giving his muscles a chance to stretch out with the slow ease of their pace. Briefly, Ganymede considered leaving his wreath at Olympia’s altar, but since that would essentially be giving back the gift - or prize - he'd been given right to the person it had come from, no matter that the meaning of doing so by dedicating it at the altar was somewhat different, he decided not to. Besides, as simple as it was, he did want to keep it.

"Technically, darling Ganymede, you could lounge around and do nothing at all for the rest of eternity and you would look no different than you do now. But seeing you make use of the body you have and take enjoyment in how it moves is both a gift and, indeed, appreciation of it as it is due, so I'm glad you do not." Zeus smiled, slower and surprisingly softly for a moment, his voice low and quiet as he spoke, and leaned in and down to press his lips to the riot of curls at the top of Ganymede's head. Ganymede's heart, which had started to slow down as they walked, did a straight-up somersault for the soft expression and the warmth of the smile on Zeus’ face. "No statue or painting can do you justice, for half your irrepressible, stunning charm and blinding comeliness lie in your motion, the stretch of muscle and turn of your limbs. No still medium could capture that, however much it might wish to. I know Apollo has agonized over it often enough, and I have to agree, but it makes your living presence all the more treasured."

"Zeus---" Ganymede could feel himself about to burn up, and it had nothing to do with the flush from running. Low, quiet laughter, like distant thunder in his bones, making a nest in his already overflowing chest, vibrated around them as Zeus kissed the top of his head again and then straightened up, leading them away from the altar.

"Come. You should tell me which of the pankration competitors are my son."

Blinking, Ganymede looked from Zeus towards where they were clearly going, another - older and larger - group making ready with a crowd of onlookers in a loose ring around them. "Only one? Isn't both Ares and Apollo here today?"

"All of my sons who like to participate in these games have agreed not to participate in the same contest at the same time, for simplicity's sake." Zeus gestured loosely to the group of contestants, all eyeing each other with leashed violence and pride. "It matters less when we are putting up games between ourselves, but when participating in mortal games it becomes far too obvious the more of us are in a single contest, and it does not give the mortal contestants a chance to shine. Naturally they can't measure up, but their accomplishments are not any less for what they can do, and should be seen for what they are."

It also minimized the amount of times anyone got pissed off over losing to their brother and making trouble for everyone else because of it. But what Zeus had brought up first and foremost was true, and Ganymede, though he wouldn't say it so plainly, was glad that had been part of the consideration. It was what they deserved, after all, just as Zeus was saying. Whether Ares would go through the whole contest or just participate in a couple bouts before they'd gotten the last pair to determine the ultimate winner, Ganymede wouldn't guess at, but he eyed each of the men with a small frown, lips pursed.

"Unless you're interested in staying to the end, after you've identified Ares, we're going back to Olympos for the second half of this," Zeus whispered into his ear, lips brushing his hair and causing a tickling thrill to spike through him from ear to the base of his spine. It was obvious what Zeus meant, and Ganymede was very much interested. It would be fulfilling the teasing promise of Zeus' hand on his ass this morning, the half-meant, playful threat of carrying him back to bed and locking the door. Smiling, Ganymede shook his head.

"I'd like to see his first bout, at least," he said, cutting a glance upwards and catching the gleam of soft gray of an eye as Zeus nodded. Looking back with renewed determination, Ganymede found it harder than he thought it'd be to pick out Ares among the men. He would be able to pick out Zeus no matter what he looked like, but he was of course more familiar with him than with any other of the Deathless Ones. Still, though, he should not have such... 

Cocking his head, he tipped it towards a man who was surprisingly short - not the shortest, just shorter than most of them - who stood there rubbing his broad hands and thick wrists, waiting while the first pair laid into each other. "It's him, isn't it."

Maybe he shouldn't be so certain about it, but after initially dismissing him, for the lack of height, the thicker body, a sense of roughness about him that simply rhymed very badly with Ares in general and the gods specifically, Ganymede had landed back on him anyway. There'd been something about him when Ganymede had caught sight of him in the corner of his eye, a brightness about his gaze, his hair too luscious and perfectly shiny and dark, the smooth, bulging perfection of the muscles, the turn of his ankles. The initial heaviness of the overall impression had almost hidden the details.

"Yes." Zeus chuckled, squeezing the slim shoulder under his hand. "Well spotted. Ares is particularly skilled at his disguises."

Meaning he was willing to be more down to earth when it came to appearing _not divine_ and when not borrowing a particular person's shape and looks. Ganymede wasn't surprised, really. Ares was practical and more intent on his results than anything else, so that he would come the closest to being impossible to pick out among other humans seemed right. The details couldn't be denied, though, and it became all the more obvious - to those who knew, at least - when Ares and his opponent moved into the now-empty ring, since the same space was used for the wrestling competitions.

Despite that he'd explicitly wanted to stay and watch, Ganymede still flinched at the first unforgiving strike, which came from Ares, of course. He relaxed a little as it grew from there, the violence of a kick, an attempted backwards yank on an arm, a partial strangle-hold not less violent than the first strike, just more familiar now. It was breathtaking in its viciousness and speed, and it was honestly impressive how long the opponent kept up with the disguised god. The unflinching strength on display made Ganymede wonder how anyone could miss who it was throwing his opponent to the ground and immediately almost launching himself on top of the other man. He couldn't help another flinch as Ares yanked his opponent's head up by the chin, for a little more, a little less care, and the neck would be broken... or the head even torn clean off, considering what a god was capable of. 

Breath escaping in a rush like he'd been punched as Ares' opponent finally signalled defeat - _before_ he got more than two fingers broken and a shoulder yanked out of its socket. Ares helped push it back into place after they had gotten back on their feet and moved out of the way. They clasped hands with surprising geniality before Ares came over to them, thick, currently dark instead of blond eyebrows disappearing in under both his curls and the headband holding them in place.

"Father." He sounded surprised, though he'd undoubtedly not meant to reveal it, given the controlled blandness of his expression. Then he glanced down, and the usual pale gray of his eyes warmed a little. "Prince Ganymede."

"That was impressive, Lord Ares," he said quietly, though at this point no one would pay attention to them; both gods would make sure of that. It _had_ certainly been impressive, though it would have been all the more so if he'd been competing against one of the Deathless Ones.

"Very much so. Well done, Ares."

They stared at each other for a moment, father and son, both of them nearly as equally unreadable. Then, slowly, Ares smiled, just a little, and tipped his head. The relationship between Ares and Zeus was undoubtedly better now than it had been hundreds of years ago, but it was still not so very simple. 

"Thank you. What are you two doing here, then? Apollo doesn't compete until later."

Zeus had been here yesterday for the horse races and, more importantly, the sacrifice, after all, and Apollo, apparently, was competing in one or more of the races for the adult athletes. Ganymede grinned, patting his oak leaf wreath with undeniable pleasure; it still didn't matter that he hadn't actually won.

"I asked if we could go out, _down_ ," he said, over Zeus exasperatedly sighing his name for revealing it so clearly, whose initiative this had partially been, though Zeus’ indulgence wouldn't be any surprise at all. Ares chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest, much broader and heavier in this disguise than his stout, but still rather slimmer, actual build was. "Going here was---"

"Ganymede does like to compete," Zeus said, effortlessly breaking past him, and Ganymede rolled his eyes, unseen by any but Ares, whose smirk widened briefly, "and since they were having a boys' stadion for the first time, I saw no harm in giving him a fairer chance to compete than he usually gets."

He could hardly deny that. Stamina he might have in abundance, but in speed he could seldom compete, so it was usually not very fair, or with any expectation of a chance of winning, that he ran against any of his friends.

"You didn't win." Ares eyed his oak leaf wreath with polite blankness, and Ganymede bit his lip, frowning.

"I _could have_. It's just... it'd feel weird, if I had."

"At that length, it wouldn't have mattered." Ares scoffed, shaking his head and confirming Ganymede's own thoughts earlier. "But you've clearly both enjoyed yourself and been rewarded."

He smiled, surprisingly soft both for Ares particularly and the way it cut across his disguised face, heavy as it was. With a last, unreadable look to Zeus, he went back to the pankration competition, clearly intending to go at least one more round before he might step out of it.

"Satisfied?" Zeus, though he, too, threw a glance towards the competitors pairing off again, steered them away from the watching crowd. Ganymede almost said they could stay until Ares was done, but knew better. If he changed his mind now, even if he phrased it as simply as wanting to see the rest, Zeus would realize why he was doing so and would probably be stubborn about going back anyway. So he just nodded. It wasn't like he could do much of anything about Zeus and his relationship with Ares.

"I am. It's been great, the whole day," he said brightly, breaking out into a smile, accompanied by heat on his cheeks as well as in his belly as Zeus leaned in to whisper, both hands on his shoulders while he straight up lifted him up onto the chariot.

"Then let me make it even better than great."


	2. Not a Mirror Image, But a Replay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you want your lover to chase you, especially _because_ that was how things started.

It didn't take them long at all to return to Olympos, and the horses and chariot were left in the capable hands of Arion and a couple satyrs - they'd all been surprised when Demeter's horse-shaped son had managed to take the shape of a centaur, and, more recently, fully human. He much preferred to stay as a horse, but he enjoyed working with the divine horses and often took on a more human shape for such tasks. Ganymede waved as they left the stable, and the tall, somewhat awkwardly gangly-looking god ducked his head, a fleeting smile of greeting on his long, fine-featured face.

Ganymede was terribly aware of Zeus' hand at the small of his back as they walked back towards the palace, and he was almost annoyed that he'd have to detour in some way, to put away the cup he'd bought at the very least - Zeus' silly oinochoe could be brought to his rooms, where they were of course going. He did not want to take the extra time, but he didn't want to forget the kylix anywhere either and have it accidentally (or “accidentally”) disappear. He'd grabbed both cup and jug reflexively as they left the chariot and now had his hands full with them, so at least he could make sure they both ended up where they should. Glancing down, Ganymede smothered a grin at the sight of the figure painted in the tondo of the kylix, his attention then drawn to the swaying oinochoe in his other hand. That, and the figures painted on it. There was more than just the pursuit scene, though he hadn't paid attention to it earlier. The other side of the oinochoe showed the figure again labeled as Zeus holding the rooster out in offering, and Ganymede smiled again. Turned the jug a little, leaning the bottom against his hip, and considered the pursuit scene.

The painting didn’t leave much detail for believeable expressions, but that made it look like both of them were enjoying the whole thing more, and that was far more amusing than reality. It hadn't happened that way; he'd been afraid and confused during and mightily exasperated and annoyed afterwards for being chased around when Zeus could just have plucked him up. Yes, he was, in an abstract way, of course grateful and a little charmed Zeus had so feared he might hurt him that he had waited with grabbing him until Ganymede had been too tired to run. A chase certainly had happened, so the painted scene wasn't entirely wrong, but not with Zeus as a man. Pursing his lips in thought, Ganymede threw a sidelong glance up at Zeus from under his lashes and the partial cover of the fall of his curls. He liked to run, and he would not tire so easily, now. The god beside him practically radiated power and presence, and since he was back to his usual height he towered above Ganymede. His long legs and far greater possibility of speed would make any chase a fairly obvious outcome regardless of if Ganymede didn't tire as quickly as he had when the eagle had chased him, but...

The idea of making Zeus have to work a little had Ganymede grinning. Further, the prospect of the thrill of being chased without the fear and confusion from a lack of understanding and willingness settled the matter. He’d have to trust his kylix didn’t go missing, but he was willing to risk it, for this.

Ganymede pulled away from Zeus a little as they crossed the mosaic courtyard in front of the entrance, so he reached the stairs, and, more specifically, the newel at the end, curving out towards the orchard on the right-hand side. The top was flat, which offered Ganymede a handy place to put down the oinochoe and the kylix both before he unpinned his chlamys.

"What now, then?" Zeus asked, amused, and Ganymede turned around and smiled up at him.

"Well, I thought you should have the chance to make sure that oinochoe isn't a _complete_ lie," he said brightly, putting the fibula, and then, after a considering beat, his wreath down as well to join the pottery, "but if you don't feel like catching me, I suppose I'll just have to take care of myself."

"Ganymede, what---!" Zeus, somehow, was utterly unprepared for the chlamys being thrown at his face, and if Ganymede wasn't so very intent on what he was doing, he might have ruined it all entirely by falling over laughing over his success as well as the split second of Zeus' expression. He didn't. He shot straight past Zeus and in under the trees of the orchard instead. Behind him, Zeus pulled the chlamys off himself, loosely folded it up and dropped it and then his himation onto the stairs as he looked up at the nymph standing at the top.

"Take everything but the oinochoe and himation back to Prince Ganymede's rooms. Put the oinochoe in my study and the himation in my bedroom," Zeus said with a huff, ignoring the nymph bobbing her head in acceptance and, more pointedly, ignoring the smile she was hiding behind one hand. There was a fleeing prince to catch. Zeus' smile was toothily sharp as he followed Ganymede in under the trees.

The orchard was a sprawling thing that petered out into the garden surrounding one side of the palace, though it looked less like an orchard and more like an ordered, well-tended and open forest. There were no ramrod-straight, neat rows of trees, though the trees were indeed spaced far enough apart the taller gods could move easily through the space. The trees were rather placed in loose zigzag patterns, apple and pear trees as well as pomegranate shrubs - the latter especially giving Ganymede extra protection, though he could move far more easily at speed through the orchard than Zeus could, and took advantage of this. It wasn't forested enough to really hinder Zeus, and if it had been, he probably would've transformed into an animal, but it did slow him down. 

Ganymede dashed around the trunks with laughing speed, using the shrubs to offer a second or two of visual obstruction, more time for him before Zeus came close enough to catch him. He was practically flying across the springy moss, flashes of sunlight spearing through the gaps between the trees and half blinding him compared to the dappled shade under the boughs. It wasn't at all like running a race, since, for the first thing, he was still wearing his chiton, and the ends of it billowed against his thighs as much as they tangled around them like a soft, loving caress heralding what was to come. It was also a slight distraction, though not so much of an obstacle he was going to undress while running. If he did that, since he'd have to slow down or at least be distracted by his belt and fibulae, Zeus would catch up so much more quickly.

Talking of Zeus...

Ganymede threw a quick glance behind him while he ducked under a low-hanging branch and grinned, heat flooding his cheeks and dipping down towards his chest. He quickly looked forward again, away from the furiously intent - predatory, honestly - look on Zeus' face. This was _better_ than a regular race. Certainly an awful lot better than running around the meadow on Mount Ida, muscles and lungs burning - though the latter were starting to burn a little, admittedly. He was not ready to give up, though, and sped in under a tangle of low branches near the trunk of an apple tree, ducking under one bent particularly low. That was another thing he could do more easily, for while the trees might be spaced widely enough apart to allow the gods to wander the orchard, Zeus was definitely too tall to easily get in close to the trunks of the trees unless he wanted to contort himself at least a little.

And Zeus, like any of the gods, him perhaps even more so, was proud.

Laughing, even when it stole needed breath and made his steps lag a little, Ganymede dove around another pomegranate shrub, overflowing with ruby-red flowers which were bobbing in the same light breeze that was tugging on Ganymede's curls. He almost rounded the large shrub before he twisted to run away and not around it - and yelled, stumbling in surprise when Zeus came around the shrub not from behind him, but from the other side.

There was a flash of a grin, smugly pleased, and Zeus snatched him up with one arm under his armpits, Ganymede’s momentum as well as Zeus’ yank thumping them together firmly enough to briefly steal Ganymede's breath.

"Zeus!" Laughing, Ganymede shook his head, shifted around in the grip so he could more easily reach up and pull Zeus down. Well, more like request for Zeus to bend down, but he obliged him, and the kiss made it all the more difficult to catch his breath. He didn’t care. It was perfect, leaving his body light and his lips tingling.

"Now, then…"

Ganymede grinned as Zeus straightened up and twisted, pushing away and twisting his shoulders so he dropped through the light grip Zeus had on him. He hadn’t expected Ganymede to actually try to escape, because usually Ganymede wouldn’t. Not that they’d really ever done this before, but that merely meant Ganymede had a few precious seconds of advantage.

"Ganymede!"

Practically shaking with laughter again for the surprise in the annoyed shout, Ganymede looked over his shoulder, eyes going wide as Zeus literally launched himself at him. Then there was no ground under his feet as Zeus pushed him before he flew into him, arms locking around him again, pulling him around, close to Zeus’ chest. Ganymede flinched, bracing himself and reflexively clutching at Zeus' shoulders, bare aside from where the chiton was gathered; he'd lost his himation at some point.

"Ah---!"

The impact rattled through them with a grunt from both, but Ganymede barely felt it as he thumped down against Zeus' torso, the god hitting the ground first. The thick, strong arms wound around Ganymede to keep him against the broad chest tightened; this time he would not escape. Despite the chase as well as the kiss, Zeus’ chest rose and sank with infuriatingly relaxed evenness while Ganymede's own shuddered in heaving gasps, though he was not really tired. Fighting his need to breathe, Ganymede's laughter floated on a breathless gasp around them until he clutched Zeus' face, fingers tangling in soft, dark hair and his palms rubbing against the stiffer half-curls of his beard, and pulled himself close with that grip to kiss him again. This time it was with slow, lazy focus, for it wasn’t a pretext to get away, though Zeus didn’t ease up on his grip even as they devoured each other.

"You’re amazing," Ganymede, still breathless and bright with joy, managed to say as they pulled apart, and Zeus paused, his eyes widening for a silent, surprising moment.

Ganymede watched those gray eyes turn soft like mist and gain a sheen like well-polished silver and smiled, though he had to duck away from the look after a beat or two. He hadn’t expected that reaction, but it was also distracting because Zeus was so terribly handsome. It wasn't like Ganymede ever forgot that or anything, but sometimes it just struck him, and struck him deep enough it was like he was a gong ringing out over the sea, vibrating with the knowledge of it from inside out. Zeus could unmake him with barely a touch and word, or look, like now, and Ganymede could only count himself lucky and even grateful he was still here for such a thing to be possible again and again. Maybe it hadn't always been easy, and he'd certainly been hurt more than once, but it didn't matter. Not when he had this.

"Hm, certainly," Zeus said finally, the rumble of his voice so deep it was more felt than heard and carried on the most vibrantly smug pleasure one could imagine, which was what Ganymede had expected earlier. When Zeus continued, however, his voice softened into something unreadable. "Though I think that applies to you far more, my sweet Ganymede. You and your surprises."

"Me?" Arching an eyebrow, he gently tugged on his captured handfuls of dark wavy hair, knuckles rubbing lightly against Zeus' temples, a suggestion of vulnerability there that was a mirage only.

"You ask me to _chase you_ , my prince, when you certainly can hold no fond memories of that part." Briefly, Zeus' expression went dark, as he slowly shook his head, a light couple fingers brushing down the curve of Ganymede's shoulder. So certain! And technically not wrong, but one did not lead to the other. Ganymede shook his head, letting go of Zeus' hair with one hand just to lightly smack his chest, the thick fall of the chiton muffling the slap. 

"That was so long ago! And I've told you I liked the flying. But this is different. This wasn't like _that_ , and besides..." Swallowing, feeling shy suddenly, Ganymede ducked his head but also raised his gaze so he could still meet Zeus' eyes past the shield his eyelashes made, a little smile lingering around the edges of his lips. "It was fun, and more than that, seeing you like that.. Like I said, you’re amazing."

Zeus was staring again, clearly hearing the heated darkness in Ganymede’s voice and though he’d meant every word and how he’d said it, he floundered under the stare, his blush darkening and spreading. This time he didn’t look away at all though, holding that gaze until it darkened and Zeus let out some sort of noise, muffled by being partially locked at the back of his throat, and flipped them. He loomed now, kneeling over Ganymede and his arms and legs boxing him in, cutting out the glare of sunlight that fell at a slanted angle through the gap between the trees around them. Ganymede had to remind himself to breathe for the intent look on Zeus' face, the sunlight halo around his head. He could feel the weight of divinity on top of him, filling the space that was supposed to be nothing but air between them. It should be a threat and proof of how fragile he was, how easily he could be hurt, and instead he just wanted to pull Zeus closer.

"Since I caught you," Zeus said, though it was honestly more of a growl and Ganymede's mouth was instantly dry in such a way swallowing didn't help against it, even less so as Zeus continued, "I have leave to do whatever I want with you, Prince Ganymede?"

"... Yes, my lord." Wide-eyed and with arousal like sparks of ember in his veins, burning low in the gathering stiffness of a burgeoning erection, Ganymede nodded, just in case the faintness of his voice might have failed to bear his eagerness in full. Like that hadn't been the whole point of running off, aside from the joking intent of making sure the scene painted on the oinochoe happened in the present if not in the past. His tone was breathless and his mouth soft and innocent, like this was not familiar. Zeus had obviously caught on to what Ganymede was doing, considering the way he'd asked, but the way his eyes narrowed, the gray going dark, left his understanding clear.

"Ah, _Ganymede_." Zeus' voice was nothing more than the deepest tremble of a rumble, Ganymede's chest practically ached from it as Zeus kissed him, pressing him down into the springy moss. It smelled sharply green, and above that floated the scent of the flowering pomegranate shrub nearby. There was Ganymede's hands on Zeus' biceps, clutching the shape of the muscles. There was Zeus' hands down his chest and sides and then Ganymede gasped, startled, as he was flipped around onto his front, on his knees, effortless as anything. "And what if this is what I desire?"

One large hand spread at the small of his back, covering the dip of it and reaching for his hips as the weight of the hand pressed the belt into Ganymede's waist, just barely cushioned by the drape of his chiton. The other hand, meanwhile, ghosted around a hip and teased down his covered thigh, until it reached the hem, and the brush of skin against skin was like fire. His thigh twitched, followed by a tremble rippling through it. Ganymede did nothing to suppress it.

"You caught me," he said, breathy and faint, though certainly not with terror. He propped himself up, arms in under him though not levering himself up on his hands, which left his ass high up in the air and for emphasis he spread his knees just a little. Did not smile into the moss his nose was brushing when Zeus' fingertips twitched, clutching his thigh more firmly. "Anything my lord wants."

This was not how it had happened. This was not how anything at all had happened, either right after he'd been caught and flown to Olympos or even for months afterwards, but the suggestion of possibility, the tease of innocence that both was and wasn't at all any longer, curled low in Ganymede's gut. Zeus laughed, low and dark, while his hand slid around Ganymede's thigh more fully, thumb pressing with a sense of static electricity prickling his skin against his inner thigh. Zeus leaned over him again, covering the whole of his back as he leaned down, and the kiss to Ganymede’s temple was soft in startling contrast to the heaviness of the hand still in the small of his back, the thumb running fiery circles over thin skin. The slightly bunched drape of the bottom of his chiton around Zeus' wrist seemed just as, if not more, filthy than the thumb threatening to slide deeper in between his legs.

"Do you even know what you're offering, my prince?" Zeus didn't wait for a reply, lightly nipping the shell of Ganymede's ear - though he'd had to brush past the thick cover of curls to even find it - and forestalling the response into a choked gasp. "I don't need you to answer, you wouldn't truly know anyway. I'll show you."

He did know. He knew very, very well, but instead Ganymede flushed with a heat that startled even him and nodded, biting his lip and turning his face into the grass and moss, breathing in the moist, green smell hidden there. With the weight of Zeus draped over him, it was not hard to pretend like he didn't know, for the divine weight always left him as breathless as if he'd never felt it before. Besides, he'd always been good at acting, and he knew what pretending towards innocence did to and for Zeus. In some ways it was only half acting, anyway; his eternal youth _did_ leave very indelible marks, and this was one of them. He could count the years of knowledge however much he wanted, recite every single act he knew, had found he liked to do or experience, make a guess at how often he'd touched flawless divine skin, and yet, there was always some faint sense of newness to it, if he paid attention. His memory was as immaculate as anything after becoming immortal, and his knowledge didn't disappear if he pretended he didn't possess it, but oh, Zeus somehow made it very easy to forget anyway. It was a lot of fun, when they really leaned into it.

Zeus kissed his shoulder, then the jutting edge of a shoulderblade just peeking past the cover of the chiton draped over his back, and slowly straightened up again. It didn't leave Ganymede any less pinned, truly, for Zeus was by now letting his divine presence flow out past him, with heavy, glittering air that tasted of lightning and the threat of rain filling Ganymede's nose.

The fibulae as well as his belt were left alone; all Zeus did was push up the end of the chiton up around his hips and remove his perizoma, and Ganymede flexed his thighs at the feel of air brushing over his balls and hardening cock. Zeus' hand followed, a ghostly touch along the sensitive stretch of skin before he reached his balls, cupping them lightly. Ganymede tried not to squirm and then failed, swallowing half of a noise as that merely made him kind of rub himself against the soft, warm grip around him.

"I am still not sure how you manage this, time and again," Zeus said softly, breaking away from play for a moment as he rubbed his hands over Ganymede's back, "it's like seeing you anew."

So it wasn't just him. It was gratifying, in a way. Exhaling sharply, Ganymede shifted back against the hand on him, eyes fluttering closed for a moment as Zeus' grip tightened slightly in response, then shifted to grip the whole of him and not just his balls.

"I... oh. Zeus--- Ah!"

Jerking, Ganymede sucked his breath in at the unexpected smack to his ass. Between gathering himself and looking over his shoulder, however, he'd corralled the sense of exasperated betrayal and turned it into wide-eyed surprise, stunned and open for the unexpected treatment. He _was_ a prince, after all! He really hadn't ever been treated in such a manner in Troy. Zeus' fierce expression softened like ice left out in the sun, a puddle of clear water the only thing left behind. Still, as the flash of a smirk turned more forbidding, he shook his head.

"Did I give you leave to use my name, my prince?"

Oh, that was how they were playing it? He should've expected it, honestly, considering he'd also started it, this pretence that it was all new, that it was the beginning, but he hadn't thought it'd be taken that far. He didn't call Zeus 'my lord' all that often, nowadays, unless the occasion called for it, and hadn't for a very long time. Not when it was only the two of them.

"No, my lord." Wide green eyes stayed locked on Zeus towering up behind him as Ganymede pouted. "I'm very sorry. Is there, oh, any way I can make up for it?"

He wasn't sorry at all, but while that had its place, now wasn't it. Now wasn't it at all, given the breathless innocence suffusing every earnest word spilling out of him, the tremblingly eager push back into Zeus' hands. Zeus groaned for a moment, closing his eyes and turning his face away, towards the ground. Ganymede very pointedly didn't smile, so he didn't have to scramble to put his expression back into order when Zeus looked up again. Vaguely, he was honestly very glad this wasn't how things had happened the first time. It would've left him even more confused and overwhelmed than he'd already been. It also made this far more fun.

"I should punish such insolence, but you are begging forgiveness with every stunning line of your body, godlike as it is," Zeus said as he dragged his hand excruciatingly slowly down Ganymede's now very hard cock, then took it away, and Ganymede had to swallow his protest even as his body went slack with acceptance. The hand was back soon enough anyway, though further back and higher up again, indulgently groping Ganymede's ass. "And I'll accept that apology, if you work a little for it."

"Anything, my lord," Ganymede murmured, biting his lip less so he wouldn't laugh or end up grinning, and more to contain the quiver of heated anticipation, the building, needy arousal.

"You're a credit and an example to the human race, my precious prince, even if you are a dangerous symbol too, with how easily you've twisted my head, and all without Eros' arrows involved, or Aphrodite's gentler manipulation." There was truth in that, deposited unintentionally in the middle of playful recrimination, and Zeus flowed past it with effortless determination, as if it didn't reveal something that had been true from the start. As if it didn't reveal the vulnerable core of his initial confusion over Ganymede. Ganymede, too, let it pass, far more focused on the tease of Zeus' fingers along his cleft, thumb sliding along to fit itself there. "Your behaviour, however, fulfills the promise of your beauty. So I'll be lenient."

'Lenient' apparently involved Zeus' cock following his thumb, the thick head plowing the path of the cleft between Ganymede's buttocks wider, burrowing down between them though there was no way even the generous, rounded swell of Ganymede's ass could even halfway contain or hug around that divine erection. Ganymede gasped, and now his fingers broke through the cushion of moss to turn the wispy smell of green around them into heavier loam. He didn't know why this, though it felt and gave him far less than Zeus taking his thighs, still left him feeling split open and vulnerable. It was a terrible tease was what it was, for the heavy slide of Zeus' cock passing so close to places he'd rather have it, air caressing where there was nothing, tricked his nerves into firing and leaving Ganymede trembling into the ground and his muscles flexing. Above and behind him, Zeus chuckled but certainly didn't stop, just leaned forward a little further so the pure physical weight of him pressed down along with his cock, and Ganymede had to bite down on the need to plead, to urge Zeus on quicker. If he did, he'd go slower, drag this part out.

Though admittedly, it didn't lack charm entirely, for aside from the brush of air over his entrance, thighs and his cock, hard enough to beg for touch by that alone, what pressure Zeus put elsewhere left charged sensation to drip down into his thighs and the base of his erection until Ganymede was squirming for more. It would not give him release, but that was clearly not the point. It didn't mean he just had to lay here though, cheek rubbing into the moss and grass tickling his nose, until Zeus was done. Licking his lips, Ganymede shifted, just a little, flexed his back and stiffened his muscles until he was arching into Zeus' demanding thrusts, and then there was a grunt above him and Zeus' hands on his hips digging in, and his thumbs squeezing Ganymede's ass.

"Ganymede---"

"What?" Innocent confusion could not have been more earnest than if Ganymede actually had been confused as he turned his head and glanced over his shoulder, eyes wide for a moment before he turned his gaze away, lashes lowering. "What did I do, my lord?"

"Remind me again how dangerous you are. Though if any man, youth or not, should have caught me like this, it would be you," Zeus said, voice a deep, reverberating rumble, and Ganymede's breath caught for it, for the towering, storm-clouded shape of the god behind him, sunlight haloing him and casting deeper shadows under his cheekbones. Not unfamiliar words, those; Zeus had said similar before and quite a few times through the years, though there was never any real darkness behind them, and Zeus had long since discarded the uncertainty and confusion. It was more the fact that Ganymede was still here. Zeus' various infidelities was one thing, but they were all brief, beautifully burning things, compared with this. If Ganymede really was dangerous, he rather felt sure he barely knew how to wield it in any way that might truly matter when he went weak-kneed and heated just for the depth of Zeus' voice and the broad cast of his shoulders, the light brush of fingers to Ganymede's cheek. Ganymede had no clever reply and instead turned his face away, muffling a moan against the moss under him. It made him feel exactly as young as he was as well as wasn't, like back when this first and actually happened, like he didn't know he could bear the radiant beauty and divine weight.

Zeus' grip on his hips went tighter again for a moment, lightening as Zeus smoothed a soothing caress over the skin he'd been clutching. He leaned down again, dropping a kiss to the crown of Ganymede's head, then his shoulder while one hand slid down between them and one questing finger pushed inside, slicker than it should have been, but Zeus could cheat wildly when he felt like it. Sometimes, they skipped this entirely, for Ganymede had long since learned the art of easing up even as Zeus pushed in. But for now, and most often, Zeus preferred to make sure Ganymede was ready before he got to that. It wasn't like it was a hardship, and Ganymede's breath eased out of him with an airy sigh, muscles clenching around what was now two fingers instead of one, and slowly, just like the air escaping him, he relaxed.

It didn't take long for it to go from that to more, and Ganymede was left squirming around the fingers which were now insistently working to tease him more sensitive, as if Zeus needed the help. Mostly, he just liked to watch Ganymede squirm, breathless and riding his pleasure, without being distracted himself.

"My lord---" Gasping as the fingers sparked lightning suddenly, Ganymede clamped down and screwed his eyes shut, then swallowed with determination. He had something he was meaning to say, after all, and Zeus' desire to see him trembling around his fingers would not deter him. "If I'm here at your pleasure, then surely I'm ready _for_ your pleasure, as well?"

These were not things he would've been able to say, back then. He wouldn't even have thought them in the privacy of his own mind, no matter how impatient he might have gotten at the slowly building pleasure; he hadn't actually been ready, not for a while. It'd been overwhelming as it was. Now, though? Now he could say it with all earnest breathlessness and mean it with every fiber of his being.

"So very bold, sweet Ganymede."

He certainly hadn't been to start with, but it hadn't mattered, then. They'd _both_ grown from the beginning, and such things helped differentiate this for what it was; not even a suggestion of a possible _what if_ parted from actual reality by the gossamer-thin flutter of a butterfly's wing, but an exaggerated mock-repeat of the past in the present. As such, for as enjoyable as Zeus' clever fingers were, and for as much as he could have worked Ganymede to distraction and completion and then back to eager hardness again with them alone, Zeus finally withdrew. The press of the head of his cock was a blunt, straightforward demand for entrance instead of veering off upwards to make itself home between Ganymede's asscheeks.

Zeus pushed in, and Ganymede was reminded why he always forgot, why it always felt like it could just as well be the first time.

"Zeus--!"

This time, there came no recrimination in return for the winged cry of Zeus' name, only an answering groan, deep like the earth offering stable support. It was like he couldn't breathe. Like Zeus was forcing the air out of him from behind and from inside of him, his lungs shifting to give space needed for the heavy thickness of the cock moving in. Everything shifted slowly, pushed open and yet squeezing tight, and then Zeus seated himself in a quick, full thrust and all Ganymede could do was choke on it as sensation swamped him, leaving him light-headed and fingertips tingling as his toes curled.

Vision settled with the rush of blood in his ears as Zeus gave him a moment - took a moment for himself, too, but honesty in such wise was not often forthcoming - before he shifted back halfway, then snapped his hips forward again. Ganymede was aware he was making noise, muffled against the moss, and bit his lip. Had to ease up when Zeus pulled back fully, nearly all the way out and leaving him stretched open only around the large head of him in a way that forced Ganymede to clutch both on nothing and too much at the same time and he couldn't stay still, then. He pushed back, but Zeus moved with him before he slammed back in, falling forward over Ganymede with one hand vise-like around a hip and the other coming down to hold himself up. His torso covered Ganymede's back with a breath of space between them, heavy as the god himself.

It was too much, and Ganymede was helplessly stiff from fingertips to toes and squeezed tight in shuddering flexes around the cock spearing him as he came. There were hot lips and burning breath, whispers of moans and praise against his temple, cheek, corner of his mouth, and then Zeus really started moving.

Divine need and demand was an impossible task to fulfill for a mortal human if the deity did not hold back in some way, but Ganymede was not mortal and had had a long time to rise up in answer. It might feel like he had no anchor, like all there was was shifting back to meet Zeus' thrusts, each and every single one feeling both like it was the only thing he knew, with his whole body sparking with white-out pleasure. Zeus barely needed to move to make his nerves overflow. Ganymede could, however, find himself in the way his fingers were dug into the ground, the air brushing his arms and quivering thighs, even the way he could knowingly squeeze around Zeus until the relentless force of his hips stuttered along with the breath washing over his face, tangled in his hair. He might not be one of the Deathless Ones, but he didn't need to be; Zeus was still trembling in response, his fingertips digging into Ganymede's hip in a way that would leave undeniable bruises. No matter what it felt like, this was _not_ his first time, and that was just as well, even when he was left gasping into the ground, writhing as he tried to match Zeus' rhythm. 

Time did not matter, here. The sun was warm where it fell slanting on Ganymede's arms, the only part of him Zeus wasn't covering with his own body - and then he had the sun full in his face as Zeus rolled them over, leaving Ganymede sitting breathless and groaning for the way the cock inside of him was now buried at an angle where his own weight was bearing him down on it.

Both large, demanding hands were on his hips now, but they were light in comparison to the crushing grip before. They also didn’t move, and when Ganymede looked down to meet Zeus' gaze, he shuddered for another reason entirely than the length inside of him. Zeus' eyes were burning bright but so impossibly soft, and Ganymede swallowed against the twisting weight in his throat as he stared, caught.

"Move, beloved. Take it."

For as much as Zeus was commanding him to take the orgasm from him, squeeze it out of him like he was equal to the god now under him, it was an order, and Ganymede would impossibly have been able to refuse it. So he moved, the eye-shaped pendant he’d bought in Athens thumping against his chest with every bounce. The hands on his hips remained light to guide him as well as to keep him from pulling so far he'd lose his seat, by accident or intentionally. Not that Ganymede was interested in that. He was full of pleasure and tingling light and his cock was achingly hard again, demanding. He dropped down with a gasp echoed from Zeus in a deeper moan, wrapped a hand around himself and ground down.

"Ganymede---"

He didn't listen. He rolled his hips and rocked there, matching the way he squeezed around Zeus with the slide of his hand until he moaned, too lost to care for how loud it was. Zeus' grip tightened again, pressing him impossibly further down onto and around his cock, grinding until Ganymede choked out a breathless noise and came again. It drove Zeus into orgasm as well, and the way his hips kept twitching up as his grip remained firm had Ganymede's muscles locked stiff and boneless at the same time, head thrown back through several waves until there was simply nothing left.

There was a moment of stillness, of heaving chests slowly coming to even breathing, and then Zeus pulled Ganymede down against him, heavy arms swallowing the slim body against his own. It took Ganymede a little longer before he could find his arms and move them. He draped them loosely around Zeus' shoulders in a lazy hug while he buried his face in the crook of Zeus' neck, and the regal thrust of Zeus' nose was buried in the luscious thickness of Ganymede's curls.

"I am going to pick you up and carry you to my bed and then repeat this. You're not leaving until tomorrow," Zeus whispered, threat and promise all in one, but he didn't move just yet. Ganymede laughed, breathless and wanting, and hugged him a little more tightly. He might have started this by running, but he hadn’t needed to run _away_ from Zeus since the eagle’s claws had first grabbed him.

"Yes, please."


End file.
